network

We just got the word on a new social network called UltraSoundd. It's aimed at unborn children who want to blog their lives and post pictures and videos of their dwelling space to share with friends. Other social networks have similar efforts, but with their parents managing the profile and posting updates. Ultrasoundd lets the kid do all the work. The site just secured a $2 million round of Series A funding from Gerber's parent company Novartis.

To set up an Ultrasoundd account, parents need simply register with the site and download a small, 130KB Java application to … Read more

Can you imagine a MySpace: The Movie, full of self-promoting emo kids, strippers, and dirty old men? How about LinkedIn: The Movie, with a cast of social-climbing tools who love to pass around business cards at parties? Yeah, not such awesome ideas. Which is why I'm beyond skeptical of the potential for Livemansion: The Movie, a movie created by entertainment and acting social networking site Livemansion, to be any kind of success.

My point is this: American Idol might still be hot, but there are some things in the entertainment world that probably shouldn't be left up to … Read more

This group of presenters at Under the Radar is focused on tools that let regular people (read: not coders) create Web sites and tools to make things easy for site visitors and customers.

My Payment Network provides small-businesses and education payment systems aimed at cutting administrative costs and the hassle of paper checks. For schools, it's a chance to add an online payment system for things like sports enrollment fees, and equipment costs. For small businesses, it's another way to handle payment processing. My Payment Network is comparable to PayPal, but offers customizable controls for those in charge … Read more

The release of Apple TV is imminent--the first hands-on review has appeared, pre-orders have already begun shipping, and it should be popping up in Apple Stores by the end of the week. It's fair to say that Apple's first living room entertainment device is going to cause some major waves in the industry. At the same time, though, it's neither the first nor only product of its kind. Plenty of others--known as digital media adapters or network media devices--are capable of streaming digital media from networked PCs. And iTunes isn't the only show in town when it comes to digitally delivering premium movies and TV shows. So, as the Apple TV rocket leaves the launchpad, we thought it only fair to present a look at the alternatives.… Read more

Facebook has a new group called Facebook Sneak Preview that is the social-networking equivalent of a focus group. The Facebook team will be showing off screenshots of upcoming Facebook features to get feedback to potentially avoid another user backlash like the one that came with the news feed privacy hullabaloo of 2006.

Right now there are three screenshots showcasing an updated layout with less clutter and more commonly used navigation put in the right places. One change in particular shows the networks selection option and the message in-box in a tabbed menu bar at the top of the screen. Normally if you're a member of multiple networks, you have to select between them halfway down your profile. Putting that and your message in-box on the top is just a good idea. There are other little tweaks, but it's good to see them taking an active approach to making the site more user-friendly.

Not new--but cool nonetheless--is the option to comment on each screenshot, allowing users to add their opinions on the changes. The same goes for a general forum on the main page of the group, which is currently being moderated by Facebook staff to keep conversation on-topic. We've got all three screens below.

[via Facebook Blog]… Read more

At long last, it looks like Apple TV is available for purchase. The Apple Web site on Tuesday morning listed the set-top box as available for shipment in three to five business days.

Calls to New York- and San Francisco-area Apple stores confirmed that the box, which is meant to deliver content between a TV and a PC, is so far only available online. A San Francisco Apple store employee said they expect to have Apple TV "any day now."

First announced at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in September under the name iTV, CEO Steve Jobs formally unveiled the device … Read more

Friendster founder Jonathan Abrams has released a new Web site in "gamma" called Socializr.

Friendster, which just patented another networking technology to bolster profitability, is credited with sparking the social-networking craze among Internet users.

Abrams' Socializr, meanwhile, offers online tools for event planning. Users can send personal messages or invitations, post public invites or notes on forums, design invitations and upload photos for albums, in addition to creating personal or company profiles.

The site has been in private testing since September 2006 and went live on Friday, according to Socializr spokesperson Toni Graham.

Socializr, it seems, is very … Read more

Which business model is likely to be the most successful: MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, or Second Life?

According to a war game played out at London's Business School last week, MySpace wins. But, in a conclusion that was validated by this week's Viacom lawsuit against Google and YouTube for copyright infringement, the participants concluded that both MySpace and YouTube are vulnerable to legal attacks and government regulations that target illegal activities and objectionable content, such as child pedophilia and pornography.

Copyright lawsuits will be a "major distraction at best or they could undermine" the businesses, says Leonard Fuld, president of Boston-based Fuld & Co., which ran the war game. "Sexy and cool as MySpace and YouTube seem, they are prone to attacks."

Meanwhile, the team of students representing MySpace successfully convinced the panel of experts who judged the war game that MySpace has the most viable business strategy among the social network sites. "MySpace won the game by a fairly good margin. They had a much better argument: that content is king," Fuld says. "MySpace won the strategy event...whether it will win the war" is unclear. … Read more

In another attempt to bolster its profitability, pioneering social-networking site Friendster said Thursday it has received its third U.S. patent in the past nine months.

Officially awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on March 6, Patent No. 7,188,153 B2 covers "System and Method for Managing Connections in an Online Social Network."

The San Francisco-based outfit's first patent, granted in July 2006, covers "A System, Method and Apparatus for Connecting Users in an Online Computer System Based on Their Relationships within Social Networks." It landed a second patent in October … Read more